Punjab Chief MinisterCaptain Amarinder Singh on Thursday announced that the State Government wouldsoon work out modalities for providing jobs to the medalists and asked theState Chief Secretary to examine the matter on the top priority before taking afinal decision.
In his address on theoccasion to honour the Olympic medalists and participants of TokyoOlympics-2020 with cash prize of Rs. 28.36 crore here at a glittering ceremonyin Punjab Bhawan this evening who brought laurels to the country especially thestate thereby making all the Punjabis proud on their rare feat, the ChiefMinister said Punjab has rewritten the history in the sporting annals of thecountry.
The Chief Ministeralong with the Punjab Governor V.P. Singh Badnore also transferred the cashprize money online in the accounts of the Olympic medalists and participants.
As a token of respectand gratitude, the women hockey players presented a hockey stick to the ChiefMinister with signatures of its entire team members.
Highly complimentingthe stellar performance of Men’s Hockey team in clinching the Bronze medalafter a gap of 41 years in Tokyo Olympics-2020, the Punjab Chief Ministertermed it as a beginning towards revival of India’s lost glory in Hockey.
In recognition of thestupendous performance of state players in Tokyo Olympics-2020, CaptainAmarinder Singh announced to name the schools and approach roads leading totheir native villages after the names of the players. He also asked the PWD andSchool Education Minister Vijay Inder Singla to identify such schools and roadsso as to give due honour to the players who made every Punjabi proud.
On the occasion, theChief Minister promoted the Men's Hockey Captain Manpreet Singh asSuperintendent of Police from DSP in Punjab Police.
Reiterating hisgovernment's firm commitment to provide the state of the art infrastructure tothe players so as to enable them to further excel in world class tournaments,the Chief Minister said that ‘The Maharaja Bhupinder Singh Punjab SportsUniversity, Patiala’ would be instrumental in showcasing the rare talent ofsportspersons from Punjab on global map. He also asked the Sports Minister tochalk out a blueprint for developing ultra modern stadiums for different sportsin consultation with the players and their coaches so that they could practicein a professional manner as per world class standards and assured that theirwould be no dearth of funds for this purpose.
While making aspecial mention of the Hockey legend Balbir Singh Senior and iconic AthleteMilkha Singh, he said nobody would have been happier than these two stalwartsat this rare achievement, had they been alive today. He said the stategovernment would also honour Gold Medal winner Javelin Thrower Neeraj Choprathe first ever Indian athlete to achieve the unique accomplishment, havingroots in Punjab, who could not make it to attend this function.
Pointing out further,the Chief Minister said that the historic win in Men’s Hockey and indomitablespirit displayed by Women’s Hockey Team and Athlete Kamalpreet Kaur would everinspire the budding players to further achieve the new heights of glory innational as well as international tournaments. He also highly lauded theparticipation of Punjab players in boxing, shooting and athletics.
In his address,Punjab Governor appreciated the spirit of these players to join the policeforce and also made an offer to the willing players for joining the ChandigarhPolice. He said that the talent pool in sports must come from the villages andwell equipped sports academies are required in our rural areas where theenergies of the youth can be channelized towards sports.
The Governor furtherreferred to the exemplary contribution of Punjabi players in Olympics hockey asonce Mithapur and Sansarpur were considered to be the nurseries for the buddingplayers in hockey who brought laurels to the country in internationaltournaments. He mentioned once the majority of players in hockey team inOlympics were from Sansarpur.
Speaking on the occasion,Sports Minister Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi announced that the Punjab Governmentwould soon set up a prestigious hockey academy for women on the lines of SurjitHockey academy. He welcomed the announcement of the Chief Minister to offergovernment jobs to the Olympic medalists.
In recognition ofsuperb performance of players hailing from Punjab, the State Government decidedto give enhanced cash awards this time. On the occasion, 10 Bronze medal winnermale Hockey players have been honoured with Rs. 2.51 crore each, Two WomenHockey players (Semi-Final) with Rs. 50 lakh each, One male Hockey player(Participant) with Rs. 50 lakh, One athlete (Finalist) with Rs. 50 lakh and sixplayers (Participants) with Rs. 21 lakh each.
Notably, the 20players from Punjab took part in the Tokyo Olympics comprised 11 from Men’sHockey team (Bronze Medal winners) viz. Manpreet Singh (Captain), MandeepSingh, Hardik Singh, Harmanpreet Singh, Rupinderpal Singh, Shamsher Singh,Dilpreet Singh, Gurjant Singh, Krishan Pathak, Varun Kumar and Simranjit Singh,3 from Athletics namely Tejinderpal Singh Toor (Shotput), Kamalpreet Kaur(Discus Throw) and Gurpreet Singh (50 Km Walker), 2 each from Women’s Hockeyteam (reached semi-finals and was placed 4th) viz. Gurjit Kaur, Reena Khokharand Shooting viz. Anjum Moudgill and Angadvir Singh, 1 from Boxing namelySimranjit Kaur and 1 from Badminton viz. Palak Kohli who would shortlyparticipate in the Paralympics.